Investors' Aversion to Risk
Limits Credit for Business

When the Asian crisis erupted last year, many experts said the biggest risk to U.S. prosperity would be a loss of overseas markets for American products.

But the drop in exports, although substantial, has barely slowed the U.S. economy as a whole. A greater threat now looms in a form few predicted: a drying-up of certain types of investments that, if unchecked, could turn into a credit crunch.